Chapter 74 Chapter 74 The Talented Monster is So Terrifying
As an AI system, No. 666 didn't understand what Li Hua and Jason were struggling with, but it could probably guess it was a semantic issue: "Cultural context and the evolution of the times sometimes give words and numbers meanings they didn't originally have. It's no big deal."
"I can tell it's a semantics issue, too. I want to know what that semantics is," Benjamin said, unconvinced. "If Li Hua and I have a cultural gap and it's too much to explain, then I understand. But Jason and I are clearly from the same cultural circle. How can he know something that I can't? He's even communicating with Li Hua across cultural lines!"
Li Hua had no choice but to say, "You are not old enough."
But Benjamin, who was always easygoing, didn't buy it this time: "What about Jason? He's the same age as me!"
Jason: "Correction, if you take into account the time of my death, I'm also 16. Even if you don't take into account the time of my death, your birthday is in winter and mine is in summer, so you're still younger than me."
Don’t ask, don’t ask. We really can’t bring ourselves to give such an explanation that would lead children astray.
Tip No. 666: "You might be able to search online yourself."
"No, I just want to hear what you tell me." Benjamin, whose stubborn temper had calmed down considerably since coming to this world, rushed up to the top line. "I've seen for a long time that you've been hiding something from me. What exactly is it?"
He just likes to be reckless, he is not stupid, but he understands that everyone has secrets, so for so long, when Li Hua and Jason asked him not to use the Internet to deal with public opinion, he cooperated and did not search.
But now the other two friends were exchanging glances in front of him while discussing the "secret" that only he didn't know. If Benjamin could still tolerate this, he would not be Benjamin.
What Benjamin cared about at the moment was not the answer itself, but the collective concealment of the secrets from his friends.
Seeing Benjamin earnestly expressing his dissatisfaction with the secret being concealed, Li Hua had no choice but to say, "It's just that... in the eyes of some people with impure thoughts, 'daddy' has a special and intimate meaning..."
Jason wasn't as coy as Li Hua, saying bluntly, "If Li Hua said that, those people would think he's gay, and a sadistic pervert who uses the name of 'justice' to play no safe words."
"...What? I see." Benjamin looked at Li Hua sympathetically and said indignantly, "Don't be sad, Li Hua. It's not your fault. It's the people in this world who have such filthy minds! Oh, sorry, Jason, I didn't mean anything personal."
"You two are simply too good kids," Jason said. "Besides being uncultured and simply venting your emotions, it can also be considered a form of protective coloration. Swearing makes you look untouchable, which can effectively increase your survival rate."
Proven effectiveness.
Jason also suggested: "Ben, why don't you learn a few words so that you can use them to taunt your opponent and influence the situation during actual combat."
"No, I'm confident in my ability to annoy people. I don't need to sacrifice my qualities in exchange for Taunt." Benjamin frowned as he recalled the obscene words the criminals used when he was fighting crime in this world. "The swear words in your world are too much for me. I'd rather brush Vilgax's teeth with my tongue than hear those words come out of my mouth."
Jason: “Huh?”
For a moment, Jason even wondered if Benjamin didn't know English either, and if he was also equipped with the same automatic translation system as Li Hua... Otherwise, what was he saying? Was it some minor language that looked a lot like English?
Li Hua: “…”
A teenage remake of the famous scene of "brushing Vilgax's teeth with his tongue" has appeared!
Benjamin completely misunderstood Jason's "Huh?", thinking he didn't understand. He explained, "Vilgax is the one I told you about before, one of my mortal enemies, the one with the octopus head."
"I know he's your mortal enemy, but..."
That's why that sentence is even more explosive!
To put it simply, Batman brushes the Joker's teeth with his tongue, and Superman brushes Luthor's teeth with his tongue! Is that even possible? How on earth did Benjamin come up with such a fantastical sentence?
Jason looked at Li Hua, hoping he could understand what he meant from his gaze and expression. Is Benjamin normal? Is something wrong again? Is some alien instinct taking over the IQ?
Li Hua: "...Actually, this isn't the first time I've said this."
Jason closed his eyes and took a deep breath: "..." This could explain more things.
Jason really didn't expect that there was a "naturally sexy" player who was even more heavyweight than Li Hua around him.
Just look at Benjamin’s silly face and you’ll know that he had absolutely no evil intentions when he said this explosive statement.
Even though he had never heard of the term "正得发邪", Jason now had a deep and localized understanding of the term.
Li Hua and Benjamin, neither of them had a trace of evil thoughts when they spoke, their eyes were full of the upright desire for the excitement of fighting, but the words they said were so weird that it made people feel dizzy.
"Don't worry, I didn't say that in front of them." With Li Hua's experience as a lesson, Benjamin thought he understood everything and said, "So you're not letting me access the forum because of what they said about me?"
"Not entirely," Li Hua said. "It's because they're making up gossip about you."
Benjamin: “Huh?”
"Me? Gossip?" Benjamin pointed his index finger at himself, as if he had heard something out of the blue. "With whom? Could it be the girl I saved?"
Jason: “No.”
Benjamin: "Who are they trying to spread gossip about me? I don't think I've ever had any contact with girls since I came to this world."
Jason: “Not with women.”
Benjamin: “Huh??”
"Okay, but with whom?"
Fortunately, after coming to this world, Benjamin had already developed resistance to sexual orientation and gender issues. He digested the news with difficulty and looked at Li Hua, who was patrolling the night patrol in a skirt.
"With you?"
Li Hua: ...
Although I knew Benjamin didn't mean that, I inexplicably felt like I was being scolded.
Jason: “Probably.”
Benjamin: “…Should? Also?”
So there is more than one unlucky person who was involved in gossip with him?
Benjamin pondered for a moment, then looked at Jason, whose expression was calm and disillusioned. He thought Jason must have read too much explosive news, so he said, "So the other one is you?"
After all, the three of them were the ones who interacted the most, and they all went on missions together, so the person most likely to be involved in the scandal was someone close to them. It would either be Li Hua or Jason.
Jason: "There should be, but I didn't notice."
Benjamin: "Who else could it be? Wait... No, I haven't even revealed my human form. How did they create this scandal?"
"Congratulations on finally figuring this out." Jason smiled brightly. "The biggest scandal so far is your Ice Ghost form and Nightwing."
Benjamin: “Huh???”
"Nightwing and I have only acted together once!" Benjamin felt that this world and he were absolutely crazy, "and I didn't even go out with Nightwing during that team building!"
They have never appeared in the same frame before, how did this scandal come about?
"You weren't in the same frame with Nightwing, but your child was, and they both look like they were cut from the same mold," Li Hua said. "So their reasoning is that you and Nightwing have similar color schemes, have both been to Gotham, and have children."
Jason built another dump truck on Benjamin's precarious mind. "Didn't you use Spider-Monkey and Nightwing for Night Patrol last time? So there's this fascinating online discussion about the relationship between Spider-Monkey, Nightwing, and Ice Ghost. If you ever get upset and go to the Bludhaven thread, you might find a post about love, hate, and vengeance written by the big black and blue triangle."
Benjamin: “…”
This is the time in my life when I regret most that I could understand English.
The people in this world are so scary!!!
"Superheroes are public figures, too, and public figures are inevitably subject to gossip and scandal," Jason said. "That's one of the reasons most superheroes choose to remain anonymous. If their true identities were revealed, they wouldn't just be full of empty talk; reporters would actually block their doors, force interviews, and bring even more intense criticism."
"Many intelligent beings are always keen on creating gods, and are also keen on kicking gods off their pedestals and crushing them into the mud," said No. 666. "The development of modern human society has accelerated this process. Now the cost of creating gods is lower, and the cost of discrediting them is also lower. In the past, this process would only take hundreds of years."
Li Hua: "Ben, this situation may also exist in your world. Didn't you say before? Some media people have been criticizing your alien form. If your identity is exposed, I'm afraid you will not be able to escape it."
"You can remove the if. My true identity will be exposed sooner or later. I've already seen my future self." Thinking of his workload and the expected overflowing future, Benjamin couldn't help but sigh, "Oh, this is annoying."
Benjamin didn't reject the idea of revealing his identity; becoming a hero under his true identity had been his childhood dream, but he wasn't ready yet. At that moment, Benjamin suddenly thought of himself and the future he had almost forgotten, the one he had glimpsed at the age of ten, and that brief journey into the future.
Five years ago, for a long time after returning from the future, that journey to the future was the best dream material for my ten-year-old self.
Ten-year-old Benjamin longed for a future in which he would be admired and praised by everyone with his real name and as a true human being. As a result, he became more and more inflated and impulsive, ignoring the advice of his grandfather, Gwen, and Azmis, and felt that he was getting closer and closer to that future.
Until the end, when he made an irreparable mistake due to his arrogance, ignorance and stupidity, he finally woke up from his dream, took off the Omnitrix and stopped his heroic activities.
At that moment, Benjamin suddenly remembered that in the future he expected, his future self was not smiling at first.
The ten-year-old child originally did not understand why his future self would become so boring, why he always had a stern face, so serious that he looked totally out of place standing next to the stern-faced Batman. He was so angry that he said bluntly, "If I become like you when I grow up, I would rather not grow up."
It wasn't until the day when the DNA of the alien hero Electric Lizard disappeared from the Omnitrix forever that ten-year-old Benjamin vaguely understood the sentiment behind his future self's words, "One day you'll find that being 'me' isn't fun."
Growth is always accompanied by pain, and being public is a double-edged sword. Maintaining one's identity amidst the turmoil of public opinion requires courage and perseverance, and it's no easier than beating up an alien monster.
However, Benjamin still has a heart with a strong ability to accept. He will not be trapped by the future that has not yet arrived, nor will he be afraid of future challenges.
So Benjamin quickly came to terms with it, even faster than when he first learned that he was going to be a mother.
"Let the rumors be rumors. I have nothing to fear from the shadows. This isn't my world anyway, and few people know me. Let them talk all they want."
However, although he didn't care, he thought that such things might happen after he returned to his own world and might affect the people around him, so Benjamin asked Jason for advice again.
"Jason, do you know any way to reduce this weird scandal?"
Hearing this, Li Hua also looked at Jason for help, as if grasping at the last straw: "Teacher Tao De, is there any hope for my reputation?"
"...I'm sorry for betraying your trust."
Jason said dryly.
"But I don't have the experience of calling someone daddy or casually saying I'm going to brush my enemy's teeth with my tongue, so I've never encountered a Shura field of this level, so I really can't help."
Jason couldn't help but think that in order to completely separate the identity of "Bruce Wayne" from "Batman" in the eyes of the public to avoid people associating him with his other identity, Bruce spent so much effort and time using the identity of "Bruce Wayne" to show off and corrupt the moral integrity of "Bruce Wayne".
He even went so far as to create an image of a playboy to make himself appear more foolish, and to create scandals for himself from time to time.
With just a few moves—or rather, just a few words—Li Hua and Benjamin successfully created a vast amount of online reputation and imagery that was far from their true identities and personalities, as well as a vast amount of gossip, which most netizens believed. To some extent, this also served as a form of protection for their true identities.
.......Maybe this is also a kind of talent.
-----------------------
The author has something to say: Li Hua: Can my reputation be saved?
Jason: It can't be saved.
PS: Benjamin's line "I'd rather brush Vilgax's teeth with my tongue" is from the concert episode of Season 3, Episode 7 of the first season, at 8:15. I specifically listened to the original English version, and that's exactly what it means.
【Catch the bug three times】
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
